MOMENTSAHEARTFUL MOMENTSAPAINFUL
by Artie'sBox
Summary: My tears fell. Not because of what's happening right then but because of what happened before that brought all of us at that place, at that time, at that painful situation... -Shizune Authors Note: The plot, setting and characters involved in this fanfiction is not mine. Greatness shall be hers, Tachibana Higuchi. :


TITLE: UNTITLED

GENRE: TRAGEDY

CHARACTERS: Shizune Yamanouchi, Subaru Imai, Sakurano Shuichi, Goshima Hijiiri

Extras: Hotaru, Mikan, Ruka, Natsume, Narumi

**SPOILER ALERT: **This story falls under the TRAGEDY genre. Negative comments are natural but no foul words please. And you don't need to cry, silly. xD

_SHIZUNE YAMANOUCHI'S POINT OF VIEW_

I was bathing the under the rays of the sun that passed between the glass window sills of the conference room. I then realized it was already morning and I happened to have slept over the piles of papers I've been working on for the past couple of weeks.

The door clicked open as I reached for my glasses to continue my work.

"Ohayou, Shizune." A friend's voice echoed in the room.

"O-ohayou..." I replied with a low tone as I rubbed my eyes and put on my glasses.

"Oh... You finally got to sleep." He said setting aside the messy table and giving a cup of cappuccino to me.

I nodded as I took a sip. He read on some scattered papers on my desk in silence.

"So..." I broke, adjusting my glasses. "What took you here, Subaru?"

"Hmm?" he paused to sip from his cup and I waited for his response. But he stayed quiet reading the files on his hand. Until the door clicked open again.

"Sumimasen, I'm coming in." A blunt and cold voice echoed. "Sensei, I finished the paper works you gave me." Hotaru said putting down the papers over my table. She stood beside her brother and stared at me.

"Thank you, Council President." I said hoping they would just leave me alone.

They both fell silent. Hotaru gazed at me solidly as her brother read on the papers avoiding eye contact. Then, a hint finally came to me. "Why are you two still here?" I threw a depressed look at the both of them.

Then they both wore the same expression of sorrow .The door slowly opened. Narumi-sensei led everyone else inside. And all of them looked at me with the same expressions. Mikan stepped forward. I knew she wanted to say something.

"Sorry Shizune. But your students are worried so much." Narumi said tapping the shoulder of Mikan.

"We're all worried so much!" Mikan clenched her fist near her chest.

"And sensei, you're here for two weeks now..." Natsume followed.

"And to be honest, you kind of stink already." Hotaru said as she wore her face mask.

"Sensei... you haven't slept well..." was all Ruka could say.

Everyone else just stared at me waiting for my reply.

"Shizune..." Subaru broke. "It's not just you who carries the same burden. Maybe you got the heaviest baggage but we're always here to give a hand..."

My tears fell. Not because of what's happening right then but because of what happened before that brought all of us at that place, at that time, at that painful situation...

**THREE WEEKS AND TWO DAYS EARLIER...**

I just came home from a secret date with the Elementary School Principal, my most beloved, Sakurano. Only the both of us and Subaru knew we were dating. Yes, he had been the ESP since Kounji left the grid. And to be honest, having him as the ESP was hard, dating him was hard and dealing with his busy schedules was hard. But we didn't mind at all. When we go out, High School comes back to us and we felt happiest when we were together.

"Shizune? You're early." Sakurano teased. We've been neighbours in the Teachers' dorm for years now and we have similar schedules so we always get together.

"Someone called him in the middle of our dinner. But it was worth it." I said as I slumped down the couch of the faculty room and smiled widely.

"Oogie..." He threw a glaring look at me and wriggled his head. "You're making that face again..."

"What?" I asked without changing my smile.

"That!" He pointed at me. "The blushing and the... yuckie." He said.

And yes, he was right. It annoys me too when I see myself in the mirror blushing just thinking about Sakurano. And for some reason, it made me realize I loved him so much that it annoys me. And I knew he felt the same. I just knew so. I knew because at times like that, when he'd screw up our date, he'd send flowers and chocolates and other romantic stuff to the faculty room the next day just to say sorry. And I was expecting one that time: a serenade through phone, a nude childhood picture of him, or a made-up romantic poem. But none of those happened.

I was eagerly waiting for anything at the Staff Room the next morning. I left a message on the voicemail of the phone at my table and a note on the door knob. I went to my classes until noon, still, nothing. I had lunch with Subaru and he went to the Teachers' dorms after; I went to the staff room first to check for any voicemail or anything left for me. I found few messages from student officers reminding me of the papers due by the end of the month but nothing form Sakurano came in. Then, I decided to give him a call. A couple of rings from my phone and then, he picked up.

"Hey." I said with a sweet tone.

"Hey," he said back. "I'm sorry about last night. Something really big came in. And I just woke up..."

"Sorry. Did I wake you up? Go back to sleep then..." I said.

"No, it's okay. I still have a couple of reports to do. And by the way, I'm sending you my late gift. I'm so sorry..." he said in his most apologizing tone.

"Don't worry about it, sweetie. Just don't force yourself too much, okay?"

"Yes, of course. I really love you."

"I love you more."

"Bye, take care."

"Bye" I replied. Then he hung up.

After some minutes, a messenger came – a bouquet of blue roses on delivery for me. I was so hasty to brag Subaru about it so I immediately went to the dorms.

I found him slouching on the sofa of his room.

"Look what he sent me~" I said dancing with the roses.

"Really? Blue roses?" He asked with a brow lifted up.

"What? They're romantic." I replied and fell on his couch beside him.

"But blue roses?" he shrugged. "Really, what's wrong with that guy?"

"What's wrong?" I said still smiling.

"Shizune, he never, EVER sent two same gifts!" He exclaimed.

"Really? He never gave blue roses before." I said as I inhaled the scent of the flowers I held.

"May 26th. College Ball. He sent you a purple dog carrying a bouquet of blue roses. Tch." He said with a disturbed expression.

"You really remember that?" I asked. I never realized he had been my best friend too until he said that. "Well? You think something might be wrong?" I asked him.

"I don't THINK there MIGHT BE. I KNOW there IS. Who knows? He must be cheating on you!" He chuckled sarcastically.

I shrugged and made a face then we both laughed. We knew Sakurano has never the guts to date somebody else.

"I think I should check on him. We should prepare him dinner. He'll be surprised~" I said excitedly as I put the flowers on the watered vase.

"Wait, We? No. Me seeing your oogieness LIVE? – Not gonna happen." He crossed his arm out front.

In the end, he came with me and helped me prepare dinner in Sakurano's room.

"Now what?" he asked.

"Now we wait." I said cheerfully.

We waited until midnight but no sight of him.

"Shiz, I'm finishing a report. And it's late already..." he said.

"Go on, thanks for the help." I said pointing at the door.

He sighed before responding. "If you weren't happy for this, I would already have dragged you out. You'll be okay?"

"Sure." I answered with a smile.

"Oogie..." he said. "If anything goes wrong, call me." And he finally left.

The clock struck 2AM; I figured it's time to kill the surprise and give Sakurano a ring. Five, eight, ten rings, then it went to voicemail. Then I called Subaru just to ask favour of calling him from the office.

"Nothing." He said.

"Try again," I insisted.

"It's already the fifth. Let's just go to him."

I felt more nervous when we arrived at his office. I knocked many times but no one answered. Then, Subaru pulled me aside and started picking on the door's lock.

"What are you doing?" I almost yelled.

"Shhh!" he said. Then the door creaked open.

It was our first time to see his office. And it was a mess. Some papers were scattered on the floor, some were posted on his wall. One of my pictures was framed on his table. I smiled as soon as I saw it and started wandering around his office. "I'll look for more crazy stuff." I giggled.

"Ew." He exclaimed as he made his way to the table and read some files.

My attention was dragged into a cabinet. It was dusty but I found many things in it: his trumpet he couldn't even play, his chessboard, my birthday picture where we kissed, etc.

"Hey, look what I found." I playfully toned as I lifted framed photo of me and Subaru kissing.

He was stoically reading on a sheet of paper when I came in. In his surprise, he hid it behind him immediately.

He stood with a fixed weird expression. I smirked. "What is that?"

"N-nothing." He trembled. His expression was indescribable. I could see him sad and angry and confused all together.

"What? Let me see that." I said reaching for the paper behind him. He struggled to keep it away but I was able to snatch it from him.

"Don't you! It could be classified." I scolded.

"I shouldn't have read it..." he whispered and fell on a chair near him. He rubbed his hair to mess and spoke softly, "this isn't real..."

"What?" I said putting the frame near the edge of the table and read the paper on my hand.

He cursed himself when he saw me reading the paper. "We weren't looking for Sakurano at all..." he facepalmed and mumbled. I froze.

I dropped my self on the floor and bumped the table causing the frame come crashing down the floor beside me. The picture of me and the one I loved... the one I "LOVED".

"It wasn't Sakurano, Shizune... this guy, all along..." his voice trembled as I stared blankly on the floor. I crumpled Sakurano's death report.

"Goshima..." I whispered really hard. I never thought it would even become a voice.

"I'm sorry, Shizune..." he clenched his fist and cursed again. "THIS MUST BE A SICK JOKE!" he yelled as he kicked the papers filed near him. And then, he fell silent.

I was there, on the floor, ready to burst. But I couldn't I did not know what to burst about. I did not know what to exactly feel. I wished that moment, I'd just die... along with Sakurano. I couldn't move. The next thing I know, my tears came oozing down... I couldn't feel myself breathing. I was dead... I wish I was...

The door swung open. Sakurano... no, Goshima... who wore the face of the one I loved. He arrived. I don't even remember things clearly from then. But I knew Subaru was angered and I was ready to die.

He rushed to me as soon as he saw me crying. "Shizune! What happened?" he asked worriedly wiping off my tears. I stared still on the floor then looked up to him. I couldn't say anything...

"Sakurano," Subaru finally whispered.

"What? What the hell happened here, Subaru!" he asked him angrily. Subaru stood and approached us.

"Where is he? Where is Sakurano?" Subaru demanded.

"What the hell are you talking about? What the hell happened here! Answer me, Goddamnit!" he roared. Subaru stared for a moment before bursting out.

"ANSWER ME! !" Subaru held Goshima up against the wall. Goshima stared down at me with sympathetic eyes.

"HAVE YOU GONE INSANE?" he yelled back. "I AM SAKU-!" he grunted as Subaru kicked his guts without letting him finish his words.

"Tell me now!" Subaru was in rage.

"I'll tell you." Goshima dared as he shifted back to his own face and spitted out the voice changer he had been using.

He looked at me first. His eyes wore sorrow and pain. My heart was crushed to bits. The hope that it was all just a joke was gone now. "Your Sakurano is dead." Subaru kicked him again. This time, tears fell from his eyes. "THAT PICE OF SH*T JUST TOLD US THAT MOMENTS AGO, YOU FREAKING BULL$#IT!" he cried pointing at the confidential file we accidentally read.

I slowly reached for the pen on the table. Feeling helpless and hopeless, I thought I would just join him as well... Thinking of Sakurano's love got corrupted by Goshima, I was sure what I was about to do.

Goshima slid down against the wall as Subaru cried. "Why?" he was able to say. Goshima stared at me as if he was already thinking of the answer. Then, I realized what that was all about. Just when I figured I'd kill myself, "Goodbye, Shizune, I love you..." he said taking out a Swiss knife out of his pocket. Right then, I had to do it. The eyes of the person who stole my lover from me; the one who took away his life: I needed to...

The next things were unclear. But I was sure he bled to death just like the way the piece of paper told us how it happened to Sakurano... Later that day, investigators found Sakurano's severed body in an abandoned building far from here. I spent a whole week with outside to clear my head off and went back to school afterwards. The next following weeks, I stayed in the conference room with every paper works I could handle only so I couldn't sleep and have a bad dream.

(**PRESENT TIME) **_general point of view_

Shizune stares at everyone with teary eyes and in her mind she talks to him once more.

"_I know Goshima had an easier trip to hell through me. But I also think, he was a way for you to continue loving me from heaven. And I know, that even without Goshima, you still love me... through them... these smiles and worries. They might not be the same as yours but_..."

"I know what can make you feel livelier..." Subaru smiled. "And I think he wants you to do the same..." he wipes Shizune's tears. Then one by one, as everyone else almost magically smiles at Shizune with contentment in every expression...

"_The love we had doesn't require it to be through you or me or us together. It just has to be present – what you and I both feel... The comforting, the smiles... The love... through these guys, may you feel my love in heaven. Sakurano Shuichi, I love you still..."_

She smiled.

FIN


End file.
